Dorothy E. Roberts, the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law & Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights at the Penn  Carey Law School, has been named a 2024 MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Fellowship is a five-year grant to individuals who show exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.

“Dorothy Roberts’ groundbreaking work at the intersections of law, race and social justice has profoundly impacted both scholarship, public policy, and political mobilization,” said Penn Carey Law School dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law Sophia Lee. “Her recognition as a 2024 MacArthur Fellow is fitting for a scholar who has reframed debates on critical issues ranging from child welfare to the biological basis of race. We are incredibly proud of her achievements and fortunate to have her as a faculty member at Penn Carey Law.” 

The fellowship is designed to provide recipients with the flexibility to pursue their own artistic, intellectual, and professional activities in the absence of specific obligations or reporting requirements. Fellows are nominated anonymously by leaders in their respective fields and are considered by an anonymous selection committee. 

Professor Roberts is a legal scholar and public policy researcher exposing racial inequities embedded within health and social service systems. Her work encompasses reproductive health, bioethics, and child welfare. She sheds light on systemic inequities, considers the voices of those directly affected, and calls for a wholesale transformation of existing systems. 

“I am extremely honored to receive a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship,” said Professor Roberts. “It is my hope this award will shine a light on Black women’s visions and struggles for reproductive and family justice.” 

“The transformative scholarship of Dorothy Roberts focuses on some of the most pressing issues facing our society, addressing issues of inequality, social justice, and race,” said Penn Interim President J. Larry Jameson. “As a scholar, award-winning author, and now MacArthur Fellow, she exemplifies Penn’s commitment to impactful, interdisciplinary, creative pursuits.” 

Professor Roberts’ major books include Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty (Pantheon, 1997); Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare (Basic Books, 2001); Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century (The New Press, 2011); and Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families – and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World (Basic Books, 2022), as well as more than 100 scholarly articles and essays in books and journals, including Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, and The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.

More information on the MacArthur Fellowship can be found here.